


Sounding Down the Mountain Range

by Companionable



Series: Have It Out [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, First Kiss, M/M, Post-Dateko defeat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2103024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Companionable/pseuds/Companionable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different confrontation between Nishinoya and Asahi after their defeat at the hands of Dateko. Noya isn’t about to let the ace leave quietly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sounding Down the Mountain Range

Soundly defeated. So in over their heads that both sets were taken by Dateko easily. There was no contest. Even now, Asahi can hear the sounds of the ball smacking the gym floor behind him, his hand still stinging from failed spike after failed spike. He heard it resounding as they shook hands and bowed, and he knows he’ll hear it all night long as he tries to sleep. The soundtrack to his failure, the punctuation at the end of every sad attempt. He’d been called “ace”, had thought he deserved it for so long, was proud to bear such weight.  
  
It doesn’t feel like such an honour any more.  
  
The locker room has long been empty, but he can’t bring himself to take his jersey off. Taking it off... will be the last time. The last time he ever wears it. No more. He will hold the team back no longer. He’s already decided.  
  
He’s done with volleyball.  
  
“Asahi-san? Asahi-san, are you in here?”  
  
Nishinoya’s voice from the locker room door catches him off-guard, and he tenses, like a rabbit in the eyes of a fox. His chest gets tight, and he realizes there are tears on his cheeks. Hastily, he wipes them; he can’t let an underclassman see him like this, it’s not fair. “I’m here,” he manages.  
  
“Oh, good!” Noya says, wandering in to find him. “The captain was worried about you, and Suga-san was going to come look for you, but I thought maybe I shou--”  
  
Noya cuts himself off, looking concerned. Asahi wonders, for a moment, if he missed some tears on his cheeks. But his face must give his fear and depression away, because Noya’s aura immediately shifts, the air around him going tense.  
  
“Asahi-san... are you going to come help us do maintenance on the gym?”  
  
It’s an innocuous question, but Asahi knows what he’s really asking. _Cleaning is a club activity. You’re part of the club. You should help us._  
  
He can’t possibly know how much a simple question hurts him. Shifting uncomfortably, Asahi rubs a hand along the back of his neck. “Sorry, Nishinoya. I’ve... got something to do. A lot of things to do. I can’t stay to clean. I didn’t want to worry Daichi or Sugawara... I was just going to... slip out quietly.”  
  
Noya crosses his arms. “Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow for practice, won’t I?”  
  
Not that he’s even met Nishinoya’s eyes since he entered the locker room, but Asahi can’t even pretend to look at him anymore. He casts his eyes to the ground, smiling in defeat. “Actually, I was... planning on not coming back. I’m holding the team back. What’s the use in an ace that can’t spike? It’ll just...” and he swallows, swallows tears and pain and resentment, “It’ll just be better for everyone.”  
  
The tension in the air between them rests, like an insurmountable hill, for a moment before Noya can respond. “You better be fucking joking.” Asahi looks up to see Noya looking at his feet, his fists clenched so hard they’re shaking. His lips are trembling but his eyes... are full of determination. “How can you be so selfish!?”  
  
“Selfish...?”  
  
“Yeah! Selfish!” Noya shouts, meeting Asahi’s shocked gaze through watery eyes. “You can’t shoulder all the blame for something like this! You can’t leave like that will solve the problem!”  
  
It’s almost enough. Almost enough to change his mind. But he’s decided. All he can see when he’s standing on the court is Dateko’s Iron Wall. All he knows now is defeat. He’ll be useless on the team. “I’m sorry, Noya. I’m leaving. Volleyball... It’s not fun anymore. If I can’t spike, I can’t play. Really, I’m so sorry.”  
  
He moves to pass Nishinoya, to head out of the door and out of the gym forever. He can’t say he’s surprised when he’s knocked into the nearest wall of lockers by Noya’s fist. “Take it back!” Noya shouts.  
  
“I’m sorry...” is all Asahi says, smiling through his pain.  
  
The second punch is an honest surprise. Noya isn’t normally a two-punch sort of guy. He hits once, hits fully, and then the anger is gone. He doesn’t hold grudges. He doesn’t take his feelings out on others. Maybe he still doesn’t. Maybe that hurts more. “Take. It. Back!” he screams through tears, and he punctuates each word with a fist. To his gut, to his shoulder, to his chest, under his jaw, across his cheek. Over and over, “Take it back, take it back, take it back!”  
  
Even if he is a hurricane, if he is lively and a handful and too loud almost all the time, its not surprising that Noya eventually slumps, his fists no longer landing painfully, but instead sliding gently until they’re nothing more than gentle pats. “Take it back, Asahi-san. You can’t leave.” His fists relax, flattening out on his chest before reaching up to smooth over the sides of Asahi’s face. He presses their foreheads together, dragging Asahi down to accommodate the position, their bodies lined up to keep from slumping to the ground.  
  
The kiss is the most surprising. Not entirely because it’s out of character for Noya, because he does it almost instinctually, with both of their eyes closed. Closing the space between their lips feels natural, and it’s that last press of Noya’s skin against his that opens the floodgates Asahi had been holding back against for so long. The kiss tastes of salt and sadness, bitterness and the smoke of a flame snuffed out.  
  
Noya’s desperation comes back in an all-new way, the libero surging up to kiss harder, more fully, with more intensity, wrapping his arms around Asahi’s neck and threading his fingers in under the messy bun of his hair. Suddenly he’s practically climbing Asahi to get closer, his breath ragged and hiccupping around sobs, their lips pulling apart and coming together again like too-strong magnets. And Asahi is facilitating it, just as desperate for it, his hands around Noya’s waist pulling him against him. He’s drawing breaths out of Noya’s lungs like they were his own, and Noya is only too happy to give every last breath over if it means Asahi stays.  
  
When they pull apart it’s like the end of the match all over again, their breaths coming strained and rushed. But there’s a rift between them now. They’re not connected anymore. And Noya can feel that gap widening.  
  
“You can’t leave, Asahi-san.” It’s a vicious last-ditch attempt. A desperate, final plea. “You can’t. You’re the _ace_. The whole team counts on you, we need you, _I_ need you!” Noya inhales sharply, his breath watery from tears. “A libero can’t spike. I can’t make the offensive call, I have to be on the floor every match. The only thing that makes that view down there worth it, is seeing you, Asahi-san! Up there, soaring through the air, spiking the ball like you were born to do it!”  
  
Asahi winces, and breaks eye-contact. He wipes at his face.  
  
“Please, Asahi-san. Stay. Be our ace. Be _my_ ace.” Noya’s eyes are screwed tight, to fight back the tears that are still coming.  
  
Asahi takes the cowards route, and chooses that moment to leave. He doesn’t say anything. He lets the closing of the locker room door answer for him.

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted from [my tumblr](http://calebdenecutie.tumblr.com).
> 
> first foray into haikyuu fandom, dipping my toes back into writing for anime fandoms after a super long break (like, my last anime fanfic was posted on ff.net in its prime, that long), so idk... let me know if its weird in places, or any mistakes you find!


End file.
